Trans community fights unemployment, health care battles
Posted by Seth Bracken on Oct 27, 2011
http://www.qsaltlake.com/2011/10/27/trans-community-fights-unemployment-health-care-battles/Coming out of the closet can be a difficult and traumatic experience. The confusion, questions and disappointment from friends and family is often palpable. But after coming out of the closet twice, once as a lesbian and once as a transgender man, Dayne Law is now an expert.
"Coming out as trans, or gender nonconforming, is different and in a lot of ways more difficult," Law said. "I couldn't slowly come out as trans or only tell some people; my beard kind of gave me away."
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Transphobia is still a concern for the queer community
Posted by Seth Bracken on Oct 27, 2011
http://www.qsaltlake.com/2011/10/27/transphobia-still-major-concern-for-utah-queer-community/As she walked into her Las Vegas real estate office in a pair of pumps, a short, tight black skirt that showed all the right curves and a low-cut, black blouse, Amy Johanson was determined to show her colleagues that she was a strong and powerful woman. She cleaned out her desk and attracted stares from everyone.
"You should've seen them stare," Johanson said while laughing slightly as she sipped her quad-shot vanilla latte and shielded her view from the sun. "I was hurting inside so badly, but I wasn't going to let them see that. I wanted them to see me as the determined woman that I am, even if my body didn't always reflect how I felt inside."
Johanson, a petite 37-year-old black and Latina transgender woman, began her transition from male to female just after her 34th birthday.
